Meaning of Idiom ‘Jack Of All Trades’
A Jack of all trades is someone with many different skills, especially in carpentry, plumbing, electricity, mechanics, etc.; someone who dabbles in many different occupations.
Usage Note
A jack of all trades is said to have derived from the fuller phrase “jack of all trades, master of none.” However, the original idiom was simply ‘jack of all trades’ and ‘master of none’ was added later. To be a jack of all trades but master of none is pejorative. It describes a person who dabbles in many different skills but is not proficient at any of them. Today, the idiom is not always pejorative. It is often simply descriptive.
Beware of sentence examples that take this idiom too far. Jack of all trades does not literally mean all trades or any type of skill. The idea that someone builds houses, programs computers, and solves physics problems is outside the usual use of this idiom. The type of ‘trades’ involved usually fall into a certain category and are usually of the ‘handy man’ variety, as in home remodeling, carpentry, house painting, repairs, plumbing, and electricity.
The idiom can also be used to describe skills within a certain profession, especially one where specialization is common.
Sentence Examples
My father was a jack of all trades. He built houses, worked on cars, and even drove trucks. Whatever you needed, he could do it.”
“To do this job, you need to be a jack of all trades.”
“Some people like to do many different things. They enjoy being a jack of all trades.”
My neighbor can fix your leaky pipes and install a new outlet for you. He’s a jack of all trades. I’ll call him for you.
Origin
In the past, the name Jack was used to mean man or workman. It is reflected in the many English terms that include the name Jack and is used in such professions as lumberjack, steeplejack, and Jack tar (sailor). The term was originally complimentary. As well, the idiom ‘jack of all trades’ carried no negative connotation when it was first derived during the 1600s, if not before. It was used in print as early as 1612 by Geffray Minshull in his Essayes and characters of a prison and prisoners:
Some broken Cittizen, who hath plaid Jack of all trades.
However, the idea that someone who dabbles in all trades cannot be proficient in any of them has been around since Roman times in terms such as Johannes factotum, meaning ‘Johnny do-it-all.’. Robert Greene, in fact, in 1592 used this term to describe William Shakespeare:
An upstart crow, beautified with our feathers, that supposes he is as well able to bumbast out a blanke verse as the best of you. Beeing an absolute Johannes fac totum, is in his owne conceit the onely Shake-scene in a countrey.
In 1800, Jack of all trades, master of none was added by the late 1700s. In 1770, the sentiment was found in Gentleman’s Magazine: “Jack at all trades, is seldom good at any.” The full phrase can be found in Charles Lucas’s Pharmacomastix from 1785:
The very Druggist, who in all other nations in Europe is but Pharmacopola, a mere drug-merchant, is with us, not only a physician and chirurgeon, but also a Galenic and Chemic apothecary; a seller of druggs, medicines, vertices, oils, paints or colours poysons, &c. a Jack of all trades, and in truth, master of none.
It was also used by Maria Edgeworth in Popular Tales (1832):
“All your sheep, Wright, are fat and sound: mine were finer than your’s when I bought them: how comes it that I am so unlucky?”
“Jack of all trades, and master of none!” said Goodenough, with a sneer.
h/t: The Phrase Finder
